Shocker (1989), dir. Wes Craven, Alive Films
Wes Craven would end the 80's on either a darn silly note or a vastly underrated one.
A serial killer is on a rampage. 30 people dead so far and the police are baffled. Lt. Parker (Michael Murphy) is on the case and close to cracking it. He's so close that the killer, Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) decides to reward the detective's efforts.
Pity that Pinker's idea of a reward is multiple homicide. Parker's wife, daughter, and youngest son are killed in his own home. His oldest, Jonathan (Peter Berg) escaped only to be being at football practice. After the funerals, Jonathan starts having some odd dreams. It's almost like he can see through Pinker's eyes.
That's deserving of a big reward. Jonathan isn't home, but his girlfriend Allison (Carmille Cooper) is; it takes another dream but the police finally catch Pinker and in record time he is taken to the electric chair. Just before the switch is thrown, Pinker snarls out his last words to Jonathan, wishing his son a happy birthday. Yeah, it seems Jonthan is adopted.
The switch is thrown and Pinker fries. All's well, right? The doc attending gets a nasty shock though, and why was Pinker so obsesed with television?
Yeah, it seems Pinker sold his soul to the cathode ray and now lives as an electric ghost, capable of possessing people. Jonathan learns this quick when more of his friends end up dead. Can he stop Pinker again? Don't touch that dial!
Cute? I mean, the idea of a 20th Century ghost is rather neat and the final battle across television screens is rather unique. If remade, would they use Reddit or Tumblr?
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